“Tell me you’re middle-aged without telling me you’re middle-aged,” Sally Hepworth begins her now-viral Instagram post.
She’s speaking about her revolutionary new laundry system, something that has both surprised her – “I have never been particularly good at domestic chores” – and her followers, who can’t seem to work out if they love it or hate it.
Despite its polarising response, the New York Times bestselling author and mom-of-three swears by the simple approach to tackle the never-ending piles of dirty clothes in her household.
“It’s not fancy,” she admits, as it just requires regular laundry baskets.
But its simplicity is the very thing that makes it so easy for her kids to get involved – alleviating the stress of an otherwise overwhelming and thankless task.
Hepworth shared the divisive photo to her account, which showed five baskets lined up outside her laundry.
Basically, each basket is labeled with the name of each family member, meaning everyone is responsible for their own laundry, from putting it in their basket to taking it back.
There is also a large navy basket on the left, the purpose of which will be explained soon…
“Here is my system,” she explains.
“1) I wash any clothes that arrive in the laundry. I do not collect clothes from bedroom floors or dirty clothes baskets, and I do not shout at the kids to bring me laundry. If they don’t put it in the laundry I don’t wash it.
- I drop the clean laundry in the large blue basket pictured.
- Everyone has their own basket with their name written on it in Sharpie. (Towels, tea towels and sheets have a separate basket, not pictured.) When a child requires clothes, they sift through the blue basket, find what is theirs, put it on, or (ideally) they fill their basket, take it upstairs, and bring it back down empty. The end.”
She then added a few notes, anticipating the many thousands of questions she would receive.
The post has been liked nearly 2,000 times on Instagram and 53K times on Facebook.
And in the 12K+ comments, people praised the approach as a “genius” way to instill responsibility in kids.
“Can I tell you how much joy this gave me? I’m a strong believer in natural consequences as well,” one wrote.
Another shared, “This is genius. My rule is if it’s on the floor, it doesn’t get washed. It must be in a laundry basket or hamper. Sports uniforms must be brought directly to the laundry room to get washed ASAP or else there’s no guarantee it’ll be clean for the next practice/game.”
And then this fan added, “Great system! Ours was similar — if they want it washed it’s their responsibility to get it to the laundry room for me to wash, or wash it on their own. Each folded their own stuff. I don’t mind doing laundry but I’m not hunting for it.”
However, a few parents said that the system could allow kids a shortcut to tidying their rooms.
“Beware the child who cleans their room by placing all clothes regardless of clean or dirty in the laundry as a quick way of cleaning up. Also, they need to know that if you have worn an item that is not dirty, smelly or underwear it’s okay to wear it again!” one cautioned.
“Seems to overcomplicate a process rather than simplify it,” another said.